9: Like a Blow

With what she had been doing for the past week, Olivia was definitely ready to meet Dakota again with her improved thievery skills. Sure, she was clueless about the other things that Dakota does in a daily basis but she was ready to take risks—or so she thought.

Since Olivia was a senior, it was easier for her to steal things from anyone. Erasers, ballpoint pens, keychains, and other random things from different people in school were peacefully staying in Olivia’s bedroom like a collection—a collection of stolen objects.

On Thursday last week, Olivia stole her history teacher’s favorite red gel pen because she was annoyed by the way she gives plenty of homework within a day as if she is afraid of not meeting her students the next day. She was not sure whether it was a good idea or not though because she ended up having the whole class listen to her drama for 20 minutes before dismissing class early—just because she lost her favorite gel pen. “It’s not just a pen. It’s the reason of my existence.” Olivia expected her history teacher to say that, but she unfortunately did not.

The next day, she stole another keychain from Rachel’s bag—it was an apple keychain this time. The blonde noticed that she was talking to her a lot more than usual as if they were friends, though she did not bother giving her attention to that as she just took it as an opportunity to randomly steal something from her. If Olivia succeeds in stealing something from Rachel again, she would then start to wonder if the latter is really ignorant or is just really letting her take her stuff on purpose.

Three days ago, it was Tuesday. Olivia succeeded in stealing the chain bracelet of one of the bullies in Tulip High when he left it on his desk in their classroom for math. His name was Travis, a junior yet even some seniors were terrified of him because of how merciless he is in making people suffer as if the crying faces of people were the only one that makes him alive. In short, Travis was a brute. A menace.

But Olivia managed to take something that belonged to him with no fear. Why would she fear him anyway? She trained self-defense when she was six years old and her father was the city mayor, even though no one knew that. Even though the rumors of Travis being infamous were known by every student in Tulip High, she knew that he would not be able to go further from what he usually does.

Currently, it was Friday in the third week since classes had officially started. The last class for the day was cancelled due to a teachers’ meeting. There was no practice for the basketball team as well so the others were just playing in the gymnasium for fun, though Theodore was just on the bench with Olivia.

“Let’s go shopping today,” Theodore said with an excited smile on his face as he turned his attention from the game to his best friend who was drinking carrot juice next to him.

“Nah, I have plans,” the blonde nonchalantly replied without giving him a glance.

It had been a week since Olivia met Dakota, and that was also the last time she saw her. She was eager to meet her again that she was always trying not to think of anything that was not Dakota for more than five minutes in order to not forget her face. Olivia did not know when would be the next time for her to see Dakota—or if there even was a next time. But while the fire was still blazing, she should not let it die that quickly yet.

“What?”

Olivia threw a glance on the brunet before returning her gaze on the basketball court while sipping on her juice, though she was not exactly watching the boys on the court play. It was more like trying to create an imaginary figure of Dakota there—almost like imagining her going to the same school as her and being the only girl who is currently playing basketball with the boys. If that did happen, Olivia would then start actually paying attention to basketball.

“I can’t go shopping with you today,” she simply responded.

“What do you mean you can’t? We go shopping every Friday!” Theodore was looking at her with wide eyes in surprise and pain. It was her first time not being able to go shopping with him when they always go shopping together every Friday for years.

“Yeah, I know. We can go next Friday or something.” The blonde then stood up with her bag. “I’m leaving now. Bye.”

“What? Where are you even going?!” Theodore stood up as well. The other boys were busy with their game that they did not care about the two of them.

“Female time, Theo. You don’t have to know,” Olivia said without turning to look at him as she continued to walk to the door while waving her hand.

Theodore could not argue more with that as he just slumped back down on the bench after staring at her back for a few seconds. He then began to think what she, his best friend, even meant by female time as he felt upset for being rejected for shopping. Shopping was literally their life.

While Olivia was walking across the hallway, Rachel suddenly stood in front of her which made her stop on her tracks and look at her with raised eyebrows.

“Hi, Olivia! There is a new stationery store near school. Do you wanna—”

“No. I have plans.” Olivia flashed a fake smile on her face as she did not bother letting the latter finish her sentence.

“O-Oh. All right. Maybe next time—”

“Yep.” The blonde then walked away from her and headed straight to the exit.

Olivia rolled her eyes when Rachel was no longer in sight. Why would Olivia even want to hang out with Rachel in a stationery store?

Fortunately, the driver was already waiting out the school gate so she did not have to wait for a few more minutes. As soon as the blonde hopped in the car, she told the driver to drop her off at the same convenience store where she met Dakota last week.

On the way there, Olivia started to create scenarios of what she would do if she did meet Dakota again there. Again. Because this was not the first time she told the driver to drop her off at that convenience store and started to think of the possible conversations she would have with her on the way there. It was almost like a daily routine actually.

Now that she thought of it, it might be impossible to meet Dakota in the same convenience store again after what happened with the cashier and their interactions. That thought made Olivia a bit down, but that was still not enough to make her lose hope.

She imagined Dakota to let out a long sigh if ever they meet again on the sidewalk near the convenience store and Olivia would tell her everything that she had been doing for the past week in order to make her proud. After listening to her story, Dakota would think she had great potential and eventually agree to be partners in crime.

“Yes. My partner,” Olivia accidentally said out loud with a smirk on her face. When the driver threw her a questioning look through the rearview mirror, she briefly widened her eyes in realization. “Oh, sorry. I just remembered a scene from one of the movies I recently watched.”

“Right.” The driver then returned his attention back on the road.

My partner.

Olivia realized she did not know Dakota’s name. All this time, she had just been calling her “my partner”. A bit delusional, but her ambition was stronger.

The blonde was looking out the window while thinking about the possible scenarios with Dakota when she did see her. On the sidewalk, there was Dakota walking.

With wide eyes in excitement, she immediately spoke without taking her eyes off the girl with red highlights, “Fred, drop me off here.”

“What? Not the convenience store?” he replied.

“Yes, Fred. Here. Now.”

The driver had no choice but to follow her order as he turned to pull over by the sidewalk. As soon as the car stopped, Olivia opened the door and got off the car without bringing her bag.

“I’ll just go get a taxi later. You can go ahead,” Olivia told him.

“But Olivia—”

“No buts, Fred. You can go ahead.” She flashed a fake grin and waved her hand.

As soon as the car started to accelerate, Olivia turned her head back to the direction where Dakota went as she quickly followed her.

Dakota turned right as she entered an alleyway. Olivia was about to follow her in when she realized that there were four men following her as they entered the alleyway after her. Nervousness and curiosity filled her in as she slowly walked toward the alleyway and waited until they were a bit far away from her in order to not get caught. When she saw the cement wall with small graffiti art on the bottom, she realized that it was the same alleyway where Dakota threatened to kill her.

“We don’t give a shit whether you were involved with Mathias’s mess or not. We’re gonna kill you here right now,” a man spoke.

Olivia carefully hid behind the wall as she peeked with only one eye to see what was going on. Just as she expected, Dakota was surrounded by four men who looked like thugs. The blonde was not sure on what would happen next as she decided to not do anything for now.

“That is if you can,” Dakota coolly replied.

“You’re as cocky as your brother, you little bitch.” One of them charged toward her and swung his fist in which she easily dodged.

The others rushed to take a hit on Dakota but she was too fast to take hit as she quickly gave counterattacks. One of them even pulled out a knife, but she easily took it away from him by grabbing his arm and elbowing his chest after.

Olivia, who was the secret audience, could not help but be more in awe to Dakota as she watched the latter kick all of their asses. It was a 4v1 match yet the only one opponent was easily defeating each one of them. Olivia felt ridiculous for feeling a bit intimidated by the men earlier because of their big physique and dark aura, only for them to end up getting beaten by a younger girl.

With one last punch, Dakota let out a heavy sigh as she stood there alone while staring at the four men whose faces were kissing the ground. When she saw one of them groaning and still moving, she did not hesitate to pull his collar and give him another punch on the face which finally knocked him out.

Dakota quickly turned her head in alarm when she heard footsteps coming closer followed with claps.

“As expected, my partner.” Olivia grinned as she continued to clap.

Like what she imagined earlier, Dakota did let out a long sigh as soon as she recognized her.